Telephone and advertising cabinet



Oct. 20, 1942.

I. M. RATHBURN TELEPHONE AND ADVERTISING CABINET Filed June 6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ivard .Mlfathurm NVENTOR ATTORNEYS Oct. 20, 1942. l. M. RATHBURN 2,299,409

TELEPHONE AND ADVERTISING CABINET Filed June 6, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORN EYS Patented Oct. 20, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TELEPHONE AND ADVERTISING CABINET Ivard M. Rathburn, Houston, Tex.

Application June 6, 1941, Serial No. 396,948

1 Claim.

This invention relates to wall cabinets, and its general object is to provide what I term a combined telephone and advertising cabinet in that it includes top and rear walls and an open front, the latter being closed by a door mounted for swinging movement in a vertical plane, and the top wall provides a support or rest for a telephone and for writing purposes, While the confronting or inner faces of the door and rear wall provide space for advertising matter for example, a list of names of business firms and individuals, together with their addresses and telephone numbers, for ready reference when desired.

Another object is to provide a combined telephone and advertising cabinet that includes a door having means carried thereby for clamping a telephone directory or book thereon to be housed within the cabinet, when not in use, thus having the book available at all times.

A further object is to provide a cabinet of the character set forth, that is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and extremely "efficient in use and service.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claim.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my cabinet, with the door in open position and the telephone book applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a front view with the door closed and parts broken away and in section.

Figure 3 is a side elevation, with a side wall broken away to illustrate the interior parts.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, with the door in open position.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken approximately on line 5-5 of Figure 4, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 6 is a front view, with the door removed.

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the door per se, with the telephone book removed therefrom.

Referring to the drawings in detail, it will be noted that my cabinet includes an upright substantially rectangular body made up of a rear wall I, relatively narrow side walls 2 and a top wall 3 suitably secured to the upper ends of th rear and side walls. The top wall is shown as being of greater length than the width of the rear wall, to extend laterally beyond the same, and the top wall is of greater width than that of the side walls to extend a considerable distance forwardly therefrom to provide an overhanging portion, so that the top wall will have ample area for supporting a telephone, as well as a pad or the like, for making notes, while phoning as will be apparent.

. The bottom of the cabinet is preferably open as shown, and the same is true with respect to the front, but the latter is closed by a door 4 which together with the rear and side walls are preferably made from sheet metal, while the top Wall can be made from metal, wood or any material suitable for the purpose. The front edges of the side walls are beaded by rolling the same outwardly and the edges of any of the other walls or parts may be beaded accordingly, where necessary or desired.

The door is shown as being of a length or height coextensive with that of the rear wall and of a width to fit between the side walls, when in closed position, and the side edge portions of the door are bent inwardly along the entire length thereof to provide square cornered hollow rail like ribs 5 which not only act to reinforce the door, but also as guiding and holding means for the usual telephone directory or book A, that is carried by the door against any casual removal or displacement in a manner which will be later described. The door is hinged or pivotally secured to the side walls for swinging movement in a vertical plane, and for that purpose I provide pivot pins 6 in the form of rivets that extend through the side walls adjacent their front edges and lower ends, as well as through the outer walls of the ribs 5, a considerable distance inwardly of the inner or lower ends thereof, as best shown in Figures 3 and 4, so that when the door is moved to its open position of Figure 4 it will project within the cabinet for a purpose which will be presently apparent.

In order to hold the door in a horizontal plane, when in open position, I provide elongated rectangular vertically disposed sheet metal plates or strips 1 engaged with the inner faces of the side walls and secured accordingly by the outer walls of the ribs bearing against the plates, as well as by channel tongues 8 formed on the lower ends of the plates and clamped about the lower ends of the side walls, as best shown in Figure 5. Formed on and inwardly extending horizontally from the upper ends of the plates 1 are flanges 9 having downturned inner edges to provide with the flanges abutment seats disposed in the path of the ribs for receiving the same therein, as likewise best shown in Figure 5, thus it will be seen that when the door is moved to open position, the ribs will seat against the flanges 9, for the latter to support the door in a horizontal plane.

Cooperating with the ribs 5 for securing the book A to the inner face of the door, against casual removal or displacement is a clamping member that is formed from a strip of sheet metal bent along its length to provide right angled disposed portions [0 and H, the latter portion being arranged at right angles to the door and is welded or otherwise secured to and along the width of the inner face thereof as well as to the ribs 5, inwardly of the pivot pins 6, as clearly shown in Figure 4, while the por-' tion In is directed toward the free end of the door for disposal in parallelism therewith to receive the book between the same and the door.

The portion I0 is outwardly flared at its outer edge to facilitate inserting the book within the clamping member and secured to and adjacent the free end of the door on the outer face thereof is a handle I2 in the form of a knob which of course facilitates moving the door to open position, and due to the arrangement of the pivot pins relative to the door, together with the arrangement of the clamping means, it will be obvious that the weight of the book tends to hold the door closed, as indicated in Figure 3.

The advertising matter may be of any kind, but is indicated in the drawings as consisting of lists of names of business firms and/or individuals, their addresses and telephone numbers, and such is applied in any suitable manner, to the inner faces of the rear wall and door, so that when the door is open, and the book A is removed, the desired nam'e and number can be readily selected, as will be apparent. While the drawings indicate that the advertising matter is applied directly to the rear wall and door, and the lists are separated by lines, as clearly shown in Figures 6 and '7, the advertising matter may be printed or otherwise applied to cards or the like that are secured to the door and rear Wall by any suitable means, such as adhesive material or fastening elements, and certain portions of the cards may be blank, so that additional names, etc. can be added from time to time. The cabinet is secured in place against a wall or the like, by any' suitable fastening means, such as screws that extend through the rear wall, or brackets may be provided for that purpose.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claim.

' What I claim is:

A telephone and advertising cabinet comprising an upright body including a rear wall, relatively narrow side walls and a top wall, the front of the body being open, a door for closing the open front, hollow square cornered ribs formed along the side edges of the door and disposed on the inner face thereof, pivot pins extending through the side walls adjacent the front edges and lower ends thereof, as well as into the ribs adjacent one of their ends for mounting the door for swinging movement ina vertical plane, said ribs providing guiding means for a telephone book. clamping means including portions disposed at right angles to each other, one portion being fixed to the door along the pivoted end thereof and the other portion being spaced from the door to cooperate with the ribs for holding the book on the inner face of the door to be carried thereby, upr'ght plates extending vertically of the inner faces of the side walls, inwardlydirected flanges formed on the upper ends of the plates and having downturned free ends for the flanges to provide seats fitting and arranged in the paths of the ribs for receiving the latter to support the door in a horizontal plane when moved to open position, and channel tongues formed on the lower ends of the plates and clamped about the lower ends of the side walls.

' IVARD M. RATHBURN. 

